Maps of Music

Library of Congress Recordings (1964)

Where the lyrics of Library of Congress Recordings take you, and where it was really made.

Woody Guthrie's first recordings were never meant to be sold; some tracks reached record stores only in 1964, as part of an Elektra three-LP set.

Key places

Washington, D.C. session, March 1940 (1940)

Recording site House Studios — Guthrie recorded this session in Washington, D.C., in March 1940 for Alan Lomax. The source names only the city, so this point marks the city as a whole, not a specific room. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Library of Congress Recordings: a March 1940 session of recordings Woody Guthrie made in Washington, D.C.
• Made for folklorist Alan Lomax and catalogued in the United States Library of Congress
• Contains several traditional songs and three of Guthrie's best-known songs
• The three best-known songs: 'So Long It's Been Good to Know You', 'Talking Dust Bowl Blues', 'Do-Re-Mi'

Background

• 'This Land Is Your Land' was written in February 1940, one month before this session
• The sessions took place in Washington, D.C., during Guthrie's early period of recording

Recording

• Recorded in March 1940 in Washington, D.C., for Alan Lomax
• Conversation with Lomax ranges over Guthrie's memories of Oklahoma, riding freight trains, and life during the Great Depression
• Discogs note: three hours of songs and conversation
• The material is part conversation and part songs, not a studio album

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · pt.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Disc 1

Disc 2

Disc 3

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Woodrow Wilson Guthrie, born July 14, 1912 in Okemah, Oklahoma; died October 3, 1967 in New York.
• Left Okemah in 1929 and followed his father to Pampa, Texas, where he began busking and playing music.
• Moved to California during the Dust Bowl period and worked at Los Angeles radio station KFVD.

Members

• Solo artist; no group members.
• Married Mary Jennings (1933), Marjorie Greenblatt (1945), and Anneke van Kirk (1953); fathered eight children in total.
• His son Arlo Guthrie became a nationally known musician.

Career

• Known for songs such as "This Land Is Your Land" and "Tear the Fascists Down", with themes of American socialism and anti-fascism.
• Wrote hundreds of country, folk, and children's songs; the 1940 album Dust Bowl Ballads earned him the nickname "Dust Bowl Troubadour".
• Wrote the column "Woody Sez" for the communist newspaper People's World (1939–1940); was never a formal Communist Party member.
• Served in the U.S. Merchant Marine during World War II before being drafted into the Army in 1945.
• Diagnosed with Huntington's disease in 1952; hospitalized from 1956 until his death in 1967.
• Influenced Pete Seeger, Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Bruce Springsteen and many others; inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988.

Reception

At release

• The recordings were not intended to be commercial releases
• Some tracks were released later by Elektra Records as a three-LP set titled Woody Guthrie: Library of Congress Recordings in 1964
• The 1964 set brought part of the session to record buyers for the first time

Records

• The session is catalogued in the United States Library of Congress
• The material is held as archival recordings made for Alan Lomax
• It contains several traditional songs and three of Guthrie's best-known songs
• The three best-known songs are 'So Long It's Been Good to Know You', 'Talking Dust Bowl Blues', and 'Do-Re-Mi'
• The session also preserves Guthrie's spoken memories of Oklahoma, freight trains, and the Great Depression, recorded in conversation with Lomax
• The source gives no chart positions, sales figures, or certifications for this album

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• The session was recorded for Alan Lomax, a folklorist, and was not made as a product for sale.
• Guthrie's conversation with Lomax touched on Oklahoma, riding freight trains, and the Great Depression.
• Elektra's 1964 three-LP set was the first release that brought some of these tracks to a wider audience.
• Discogs notes that the recordings hold three hours of songs and conversation.
• 'This Land Is Your Land' was written about a month before the March 1940 session.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · www.discogs.com

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